There’s a dawning sense that extremely large databases of information, starting in the petabyte level, could change how we learn things. The traditional way of doing science entails constructing a hypothesis to match observed data or to solicit new data.
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” So proclaimed statistician George Box 30 years ago, and he was right. But what choice did we have? Only models, from cosmological equations to theories of human behavior, seemed to be able to consistently, if imperfectly, explain the world around us. Until now. Today companies like Google, which have grown up in an era of massively abundant data, don’t have to settle for wrong models. Indeed, they don’t have to settle for models at all.
Google’s breadth of services is truly awesome, and the amount of information the company touches concerning our lives and world can sometimes feel downright frightening. While almost no one takes the old phrase “Don’t Be Evil” seriously anymore–now that there are billions of dollars on the table and Chinese autocrats to satisfy–regular evaluations of Google’s ethical positions still seem advisable.
Several months ago I ventured into the spooky economics of information with a post that suggested that data had an increasing marginal utility. A number of folks who know a whole lot more about economics than I do argue that it was not exactly an increasing marginal utility, but they acknowledged that there was something weird going on. Relying again on my naiveté, I thought I’d try another post on the weird economics of information. It is almost certain to be wrong. Hopefully it will be wrong in an interesting and useful way.
Social network Facebook announced Friday the debut of Facebook Connect, a new technology for members to connect their profile data and authentication credentials to external Web sites. It makes the company the latest major Web site to embrace the concept of data portability.
Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB “thumb drive” that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.
The email message addressed to a Booz Allen Hamilton executive was mundane–a shopping list sent over by the Pentagon of weaponry India wanted to buy. But the missive turned out to be a brilliant fake. Lurking beneath the description of aircraft, engines and radar equipment was an insidious piece of computer code known as “Poison Ivy” designed to suck sensitive data out of the $4 billion consulting firm’s computer network.
Of all the methods scammers use when hunting for victims, phishing is one of the most difficult to guard against. Phishing attacks are designed to exploit societal vulnerabilities more than technical flaws, and, in some cases, are extremely difficult to block. Even the best anti-malware software suite can’t stop an end user from willingly revealing personal information, particularly if the Web site being used to collect the data doesn’t trip any high-alert security alarms.
The Federal Trade Commission has taken an interest in educating consumers on the dangers of phishing. To that end, the government organization has prepared three separate 60-second videos on the ways and scenarios a consumer might possibly encounter a phisher.
Hackers have turned their attention to Facebook’s hundreds of independent applications. The results are not terribly surprising, but do not tell a good tale: App developers don’t seem to know a thing about basic security, and are putting private user information at risk. As a result, malicious hackers are able to access and change what should be private user data managed by the application providers.
Want to know who a business is hiring and promoting? Starting Friday, LinkedIn will tell you, showing that not even the company launching the disruptive service is immune to the challenges the Internet presents in the process.
In my article in Monday’s Times, “To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on What You Click,” I worked with comScore to develop a new measure for Web companies: how much data they can collect from users.
On the Internet, companies are typically ranked by how many different people visit their sites in a given month. And when Microsoft announced its $41 billion bid for Yahoo, comScore and Nielsen Online promptly put out estimates counting how many people would be in the merged company’s total audience.
A U.S. government office in Quantico, Virginia, has direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier’s systems, exposing customers’ voice calls, data packets and physical movements to uncontrolled surveillance, according to a computer security consultant who says he worked for the carrier in late 2003. “What I thought was alarming is how this carrier ended up essentially allowing a third party outside their organization to have unfettered access to their environment,” Babak Pasdar, now CEO of New York-based Bat Blue told Threat Level. “I wanted to put some access controls around it; they vehemently denied it. And when I wanted to put some logging around it, they denied that.”
A few months ago, I shopped around for a Web site to help keep track of my spending habits. I was looking for a service that would charge me nothing yet work flawlessly, protect my privacy and make me feel good about myself–a tall order, I’ll admit. I settled on a little start-up called Wesabe, mostly because the founders seemed so committed to, well … to being cool dudes.
While the big news in the online world focuses on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, a more profound revolution is taking place on the online social networks: The discussion about privacy is changing as users take control over their own online data. While they spread their Web presence, these users are not looking for privacy, but for recognition as individuals–whether by friends or vendors. This will eventually change the whole world of advertising.
You might think that all the attention data breaches and cyber attacks have received would make workers who access corporate systems from outside the office more cautious. You’d be wrong. Not only do remote workers engage in risky behavior, but they’re doing so at an increasing rate.
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